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US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has pressed Japan to proffer fiscal support to its economy to reignite growth in the country. Lew, in a statement, made the remarks during a bilateral meeting with Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey. He urged the country to fine-tune their fiscal policy to avert sluggish growth in the near future and ensure the return to domestic demand-driven growth can uphold consolidation efforts over the medium term. The Japanese economy slid 0.2% in the third quarter. The nation has faced recession four time since the global financial crisis.

Greece reached a deal with its international lenders on financial reforms, removing a hurdle holding up new bailout loans for the country. Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said there was an agreement on all the milestones, whatever was needed to deliver, meaning the parliament could now uphold the set of reforms to law. The country signed up to a new aid program totalling up to €86 billion this year, but payment of a portion of an initial tranche had been withheld over dispute on regulations on home foreclosures and managing tax arrears to the state. Greece has been keen on finishing its first assessment under the fresh bailout package to initiate discussions with creditors on debt relief.

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports declined unexpectedly in October, data from the International Enterprise Singapore showed Tuesday. NODX dropped 0.5 percent year-over-year in October, confounding economists' expectations for a 3.6 percent growth. In September, non-oil domestic exports had risen 0.3 percent. The annual decrease in October was caused by a contraction in electronic NODX which outweighed the increase in non-electronic NODX, the agency said. Exports of electronic products fell 3.2 percent annually in October, in contrast to the 5.7 percent rise in the previous month. This was largely due to the fall in exports of ICs, parts of ICs and parts of PCs. Economists had expected a 2.2 percent fall for the month. At the same time, shipments of non-electronic products grew 0.7 percent in October, reversing a 1.9 percent drop in September. On a monthly basis, NODX rose a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent in October, following a 2.8 percent decrease in the preceding month.

Women now earn what men did 10 years ago, highlighting the deceleration in global progress made in narrowing the gender division. The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report said the gap in education, economic opportunity, health, and politics worldwide has closed by 4% in the last decade, while the economic gap constricted by 3%. The WEF report implied it will take another 118 years to attain equality, and progress towards wage equality and labor force parity has stalled since 2009 or 2010. In 97 countries, more women than men are studying in university. Also, women comprise most of the skilled workers in only 68 nations and the majority of leaders in only four.

Fitch Ratings says India's new subsidy-sharing framework for kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) provides the two state-controlled upstream producers, Oil India Limited (OIL, BBB-/Stable) and Oil and National Gas Corporation, with more stability in their realised oil prices net of discounts. The overall subsidy burden on the state and the state oil and gas companies have reduced substantially after diesel prices were deregulated in October 2014. The two state-controlled upstream companies were previously required to provide their oil to refiners at substantial discounts not directly related to oil prices - as high as USD56 per barrel - as part of India's state-directed energy subsidies for end-users. Following the deregulation of diesel prices, the government said that for the fiscal year ending March 2016 (FY16), the maximum state subsidy to oil marketing companies to sell fuel below market prices will be limited to INR18/kg for cooking gas (LPG) and INR12/litre for kerosene; any additional subsidy will have to be borne by the oil producers. The net realised prices that the upstream companies receive on the sale of oil produced (market price of crude less discounts to refiners) will vary less under this new mechanism because the discounts they provide increase and decrease with the movement in global crude oil prices. Assuming an average Brent oil price of USD55/bbl in FY16, OIL's net realised oil price after subsidy discounts would be around USD51/bbl. This would be about 8% higher than the USD47/bbl reported in FY15. However, if Brent averages USD40/bbl for the remainder of FY16 (average FY16 price of USD51/bbl), OIL's net realised oil price would be little changed at around USD48/bbl, as the discount also falls. Conversely, if Brent averages USD60/bbl for the rest of the financial year (USD59/bbl on average in FY16), the net realised price by OIL would be around USD53/bbl after adjusting for a higher discount. Our estimates assume that OIL's oil output would be 3% lower yoy in FY16, based on its 1HFY16 results. We have used a USD-INR exchange rate of 64.5, based on 1HFY16 average. As for the oil marketing companies, they would be compensated fully by the government for selling LPG and kerosene below market prices under this arrangement. The above arrangement is through March 2016; it is yet not clear if the government would make any significant adjustments to the mechanism or the thresholds for the next fiscal year.

Federal Reserve policymakers, who are looking at deferring an interest rate hike, are now contemplating a rate liftoff at its December meeting. At the October 27-28 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, policymakers cleared a rate increase would consider the move at their meeting on December 15 and 16. The doves lost the battle, and it emerged before the release of a better than projected “October jobs report that provided more evidence of an economy on solid ground,” said Diane Swonk, Chief Economist at Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc. The Fed minutes also revealed majority of participants agreed the conditions that would ignite a rate hike could be met by next month.

The British pound strengthened against most major currencies in the Asian session on Friday. The pound rose to 1.5299 against the U.S. dollar and 188.00 against the yen, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.5289 and 187.84, respectively. Against the euro, the pound edged up to 0.7005 from yesterday's closing value of 0.7018. If the pound extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 1.54 against the greenback, 189.00 against the yen and 0.69 against the euro.

After moving modestly higher in early trading, treasuries turned lower over the course of the trading session on Friday. Bond prices pulled back in early afternoon trading and remained in the red going into the close. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, inched up by 1.4 basis points to 2.262 percent. The downturn by treasuries may partly have reflected profit taking on the heels of the upward trend seen over the past several sessions. Amid a relatively quiet day on the U.S. economic front, traders also kept an eye on speeches by a pair of Fed officials. In remarks at an event in Fort Smith, Arkansas, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard repeated a speech he delivered at a separate event earlier this month. Bullard noted the market-based probabilities of a near-term end to the zero interest rate policy have increased but stressed any decision will be data dependent. Additionally, New York Fed President William Dudley spoke at Hofstra University on Long Island, telling students the U.S. economy is in pretty good shape. Dudley said the Fed hopes to soon become reasonably confident that inflation will return to the 2 percent inflation target. The New York Fed also stressed that the decision on interest rates would be data dependent, noting that there will be four weeks of data before the next monetary policy meeting. While the markets will be closed next Thursday for Thanksgiving, traders will be presented with a slew of U.S. economic data in the days leading up to the holiday. Traders are likely to pay close attention to reports on new and existing home sales, durable goods orders, and personal income and spending. Bond trading could also be impacted by reaction to the results of the Treasury Department's auctions of two-year, five-year, and seven-year notes. The Treasury is due to sell $26 billion worth of two-year notes next Monday, $35 billion worth of five-year notes next Tuesday, and $29 billion worth of seven-year notes next Wednesday.

The euro weakened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Monday. The euro fell to nearly a 7-1/2-month low of 1.0600 against the U.S. dollar, nearly a 7-month low of 130.57 against the yen and a 5-day low of 1.0825 against the Swiss franc, from last week's closing quotes of 1.0643, 130.70 and 1.0842, respectively. Against the pound, the euro dropped to 0.6992 from Friday's closing value of 0.7007. If the euro extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.05 against the greenback, 129.00 against the yen, 1.07 against the franc and 0.695 against the pound.